It's looking like rain and I'm sitting here listening to music, hoping I don't have to water those 200+ flower pots that are so much more fun in May and June than in late August. Mull and Mash the following.

Is lack of consistency really a player deficiency, or is it a reflection of reality for any player doomed to less than superstar status? Scouts report, coaches scheme, opportunities arise, defenses adjust, mismatches occur; aren't we really just talking about effort and execution?

Adelman the teacher: Other than Rubio and Pek did anyone see evidence of learning on last years squad?

The rookie wall: With last years crazy schedule, When did it hit? Did more than just rookies crash into it?

Have You thought about selling things on the internet? I'd like to sell "I Hate Yard Signs!" yard signs (Just prior to the political season.) I'd also like to sell tickets to a symbolic Titanic II launch. For five bucks you could reserve a berth for your most despised public personality, and have him smashed by an iceberg in the North Atlantic. I'd also sell life boat seats for ten bucks, that you could reserve to save someone you thought had been unjustly doomed. I could donate the proceeds to the nature conservancy. Or maybe I'd have 100 berths and 50 life preservers and start a bidding war.

Political trends I'd like to start:1). Vote for the candidate who spends the least money trying to get elected. We've been getting far too much of what they paid for. 2). Anti candidates. Have two young college types hold debates and show how much better it can be done.

Book recommendations: The Philosopher and the Wolf, by Mark Rowlands. I don't have much to say about the philosophy part, but I thought it was an incredible story. (And it's about a wolf!)

Do you have any new play by play announcer recommendations, or is it just going to be Jim Pete and the sound of Brandon Roy running up and down the court? Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

The playlist for this morning's talker included: Hey Hey Hey (Chris Smither,) Everything Is Coming Up Roses (Black,) an alternate take of Dignity (Bob Dylan,) Tears (Christy Wallace,) Cigarette Machine (Fred (Eaglesmith,) Tumbling Down (Glenna Bell and John Evans,) Bulletproof Heart (Greg Trooper,) Hey Baby Where You Been (Hayes Carll,) Don't Wake Me Up (Jude Jonstone,) Down on the Lower East Side (Justin Townes Earle,) Sidecar (Kathleen Edwards,) Beagle Bay Dreaming (Kerrianne Cox,) Lullabies of the Land (Laura Repo,) They Don't Rob the Trains Anymore (Ronny Elliott,) and Killing the Blues (Woodstock Mountains.)

If I meet my demise pinned behind the wheel in an upside down car, if it's in a dry gulch somewhere, and if the wheels are still spinning and the sound system is still playing, please fate, let Tom Waits be crooning.